Trembling
by Lyriel
Summary: What if the Flame Alchemist were afraid of thunder? What if a certain shrimp found out?


Rain trickled down the window, accompanied by occasional thunder and lightning. Roy picked up a book and settled into a comfortable chair, listening rather resentfully to the heavy splattering of water on the windows. After a flash of lightning startled him away from the paragraph he wasn't really reading, he looked up to glare out the window at the sky. And noticed a spot of red out on the sidewalk. Could that be…? He was probably imagining it. Book forgotten, Roy went to get an umbrella.

Ed had figured it was a stupid idea. It was late, it was wet, and the Taisa was probably sound asleep. Or else in no mood for visitors, Ed knew what his temper was like in the rain. He'd just turned around to go home when he heard a door close, and heavy footsteps slosh their way toward him. "Are you stalking me, Fullmetal? Come to annoy me in my own home?" An umbrella was tilted over his head. Pretty useless, considering he was already soaked to the bone.

"I was just walking by. Don't get a swelled head over it," he growled back. "Not everything's about you."

Roy raised an eyebrow. "Just walking by? Without an umbrella in this weather? Correct me if I'm wrong, but don't you and Al live somewhere in that direction? And quite far away, too, if I'm not mistaken."

Ed dropped his eyes. "Yeah. But Al's of at Winry's, and I'm…not used to being alone."

The taller man was silent for a moment. "Come inside," he said abruptly. "You'll catch cold if you stay out here."

Roy had disappeared upstairs when they got inside, leaving Ed dripping in the front hall, looking around at the surprisingly nice house.

He noticed movement in the corner of his eye, but didn't react quite quickly enough to catch the soft bundle that hit him in the face. "Huh?"

"There's a bathroom down the hall," Roy called. "Get changed. I don't want you dripping on anything important."

Ed stuck his tongue out at the unoffending staircase and went to put on the dry clothes.

Roy had come back down and was lighting a fire in the fireplace when he heard a thunderous "I SUPPOSE YOU THINK THIS IS FUNNY, YOU SMUG BASTARD!" explode from the bathroom. Ed stomped out, and Roy had to suppress a laugh. Despite being too small for the Flame Alchemist, they were still at least two sizes too large for Fullmetal. The shirt hung off one shoulder, short sleeves reaching down to his elbows. He had to hold up the pants, and they dragged on the floor behind him.

Valiantly, the black-haired man said nothing except, "Why didn't you just transmute them?"

Ed glared. Well, glared more. "They aren't my clothes, are they?"

"Go ahead. I don't need them, anymore."

Ed miraculously managed to clap without the pants detouring to his ankles, then touched the clothes and shrunk them down to fit. He tossed his wet clothes to Roy, who spread them out to dry in front of the fire, then pulled off his glove.

"Would you like some tea?" he asked.

The blond looked suspicious. "What are you trying to pull? You invite me inside, give me your clothes, and now you're offering me tea? You're being too nice, Taisa."

Roy shook his head. "No need for titles, we're both off-duty." He disappeared into the kitchen.

"Hey! That doesn't answer my question!"

He stuck his head back out, looking serious. "I guess I don't want to be alone, either."

Ed was staring into the fire when Roy came back with the tea. They drank in silence, watching each other when the other wasn't looking. Ed noticed that Roy twitched every time lightning flickered.

"I'll take the cup, if you're done."

Ed jumped and looked down, half-surprised to see that his mug was indeed empty. He handed it over and Roy took it into the kitchen.

Lightning flashed brightly nearby, followed closely by a thunderclap so loud it nearly drowned out the crash of a breaking cup.

Ed ran into the kitchen and saw Roy kneeling, picking up the pieces of the mug he'd dropped.

"Clumsy of me," the black-haired man said, but his hands were shaking. "You don't need to help," he protested as the shorter alchemist crouched down beside him, but Ed simply gathered the shards, clapped, and fixed the cup.

"Okay," Ed said as they stood up. "Start talking."

"I don't know what you mean, Fullmetal," Roy said, looking away.

Ed reached up and grabbed his chin, forcing Roy to look him in the eyes. "You're afraid of lighting, aren't you? That's why you didn't fix the cup. You're shaking too much to draw a circle!"

Roy's eyes grew sharp as he looked down at Ed. "What do you want me to say? Yes, I'm afraid of lightning. No, I couldn't draw a proper array now to save my life. I'm useless during storms in more ways than one. Are you happy now?"

"No." Ed realized his hand was still on Roy's face, and snatched it away. They stared at each other for a moment. Roy turned away and started washing the cups.

"Why?"

"Why what? Why am I afraid of lightning? Every kid has a phobia, I just never grew out of mine." Roy shrugged. "Don't think I ever will."

"No. I mean, why did you invite me in? You can't have thought you'd hide this from me."

Roy stopped washing for a moment. "I couldn't just leave you out there, you'd get sick."

"You could have driven me home."

Roy flinched as another bolt flashed. "Like this? Ha. I'd crash us straight into a wall." He dried the cups of, set them on the counter, and walked out of the kitchen, Ed trailing behind.

"You can stay on the couch, if you want. I'll get you a blanket."

The blond boy glanced out the window at what looked like a vertical river. "That might be a good idea. I'm not trying to get home in this."

Roy laughed weakly and went to get a blanket.

Ed sat up slowly. He had thought the storm was dying down earlier, and had managed to fall asleep, but now it sounded like it was back with a vengeance. A loud crack of thunder had startled him awake a minute ago, and he hoped Roy had managed to sleep through it.

"Ed?" A voice whispered from the top of the stairs.

Nope, guess not. "Yeah?" he responded.

"Um. Are you all right?"

"Fine. You?"

"Figure it out."

Ed flicked on the small reading lamp on the table next to the couch, and glanced up at his Colonel. Who didn't look like he'd slept a wink.

"Ed?" Roy said again.

"Yeah?" He couldn't be sure, but he thought Roy was…blushing?

"Would you… um, I mean… could you maybe stay…up here? With me?"

Ed spluttered. "What?"

Now Roy was definitely red. "Not like that! It's just… easier, when there's someone else around."

He thought for a moment, remembering storms when he was little, and how he and Al would cling tightly to each other until they both fell asleep, or couldn't stand it anymore and ran to wake up their mother. He stood up, leaving the blanket behind. "Touch me," he threatened, "and you'll be paying Winry a visit for a new hand."

Roy chuckled a bit, looking better. "Wouldn't dream of it."

They ended up lying as far away from each other as humanly possible, but Ed still felt Roy twitching, when the thunder rumbled. And he would swear the older man kept inching closer to him. Jeez, who knew the ruthless Flame Alchemist was such a baby? Ed had seen him when it was raining before, and it hadn't seemed this bad… then again, that was usually when the other soldiers were around, and this was the worst storm in like ten years…

"Stop that!" he said, aiming a kick at the other man.

"OW!" Roy hollered. "Really, Fullmetal," he said, sounding pained. "Couldn't you have at least kicked me with your human leg? I think you broke something."

"Really?" Ed sounded hopeful.

"No. But I can feel it bruising."

"Only a bruise? Darn."

"Hey! I'm this nice to you and I get a wish for a broken bone in return? This calls for drastic measures."

Both their tones were teasing, so Ed wasn't really expecting a return attack.

Roy tickled him.

Ed yelped and squirmed, trying to get away, then came up with a better plan and started tickling back. This prompted a short wrestling session which quickly ended with Roy sitting on top of a wriggling, alchemist-shaped pile of blankets on the floor.

Ed managed to poke his head out, and mock-glared up at the older man.

Then both of them remembered exactly who the other person was.

They leapt apart, blushing furiously and babbling apologies. They stopped when they realized what they were doing, and the room was deathly silent for a moment.

"Well," Ed started. "At least you weren't twitching."

Roy noticed that he was right. He'd completely forgotten about the storm while he was…uh, distracted.

"Sorry," he said. "If you'd rather go back to the couch…"

"Are you kidding?" Ed interrupted, not quite looking at him. "Couches suck. They're not made for sleeping on. /You/ go sleep on the couch."

"You can't kick me out of my own bed!" Roy exclaimed. He grabbed a corner of the tangled blankets and lay down, pulling them over him.

Ed scrambled back into bed and grabbed the opposite corner. A half-hearted blanket fight ensued, resulting in a comfortable tangle with both men rather closer to each other than they'd started out.

They listened to the rain for a few minutes. The lightning seemed to have died down, at least for now. Roy thought he could probably sleep now. But first…

"Ed?" he whispered.

"Muh?" the boy responded, not moving.

Roy tapped him on the shoulder. When Ed turned over, Roy kissed him. Not much, just a brush of lips against lips. "Thanks," Roy said.

Ed blinked.

"Please don't send me to Winry," he continued, "Automail lips would not be fun."

Ed blinked again. "Why the hell would I do that?" he asked, and kissed Roy back, quite a bit more deeply.

They got to sleep after that, and slept late the next morning. (Roy thanked whatever deity was listening that it was Saturday.) He woke up before Ed, listened to the rain and the occasional grumble of thunder, and reached over to switch on the radio.

"…continues to pour down out there," announced the weatherman. "Forecasts show an 80 chance that it will continue until tomorrow afternoon. It's going to be another dark and stormy night, people. Flash flood warnings are in effect for…" He flicked it off and cuddled back into the warm blankets, carefully moving a heavy steel arm out of the way.

The other brother couldn't come home in this weather, was his last thought before he fell comfortably back to sleep. Maybe he could talk Ed into staying another night.

With a little help, Roy thought he could come to like rainy days.


End file.
